Another Block Complete and a Vintage Find!

Another Farmer's Daughter's block - ba da boom! Last night I cut out another one. 

I'm so excited to share my new find! Hubby wanted to go back to the antique mall yesterday - you guessed it - he wanted to go back to the golf booth. There was a 3 wood he had his eye on. So I wandered a bit while he was shopping. And look what I found!

It's the most gorgeous, well made Grandmother's Flower Garden I've ever seen! And it's big! 102 inches square! 

And EVERY SINGLE flower is surrounded with fussy cut hexies! I've never seen a vintage quilt with this much fussy cutting - it wastes more fabric when you fussy cut; back in the day women couldn't afford to be wasteful. The person who made this obviously wasn't worried about that!

There is such a wide variety of fabrics, mostly florals, though I did find some little elephants in one.

The centers are all the same yellow fabric.

There is a butter yellow border around the entire quilt. The quilt is entirely hand stitched and even the quilting is all by hand. Tiny perfect stitches!

I seem to have a growing collection of vintage hexie quilts. I wasn't planning on buying more, but this one reached out and grabbed me. 'Take me home', it shouted! And the price was right. I think it's worth at least a few times over what I paid for it.

I'll take more close up photos today to share tomorrow.

I did a bit of machine quilting yesterday. Today is a day for dresden plates. I hope to crank out at least two.

Wishing you a happy day!

Quilting! And Sashing!

I began quilting Bliss - so good to have this under the machine. I'm free motion stitching this little motif on some of the hexagons and a spiral on others. I made good progress. When I set the quilt aside to wind the bobbin, this happened:

Mickey is already claiming this quilt - or at least he's trying to claim it...

Once I stitched a decent amount, I turned my attention to the sashing for my UFO winding ways quilt. I need a name for it now, don't I? How about 'My Autumn Garden'?

I found some shot cotton I'd bought in Houston and decided it fit the bill. I ran out of the gold, so I cut some green to finish the job. I kind of like have two colors of sashing. They are close enough to the same color work together. I like the modern look of changing up the color.

Then I needed cornerstones. I found a rusty orange piece of shot cotton, also a Houston purchase. Perfect!

I'm ready to sew this quilt together! Yippee!

Still thinking about a border...maybe a piano key border from multiple Kaffe Fassett prints? I think I like this idea!

Last night I stitched these three star points in place on The Bee's Knees. Loving it!

Today is machine quilting day and I plan to get more of Bliss quilted. I also need to run to the post office and another quick errand.

Let's kick off this week with quilting! Stitch up a fabulous day!

Sunshine and Basting!

Here is Cooper protecting Mickey from the vacuum...Mickey hates the vacuum! Lots of sun yesterday, but too chilly for me. I skipped the hike and let Hubby do it.

I finished pin basting Bliss! Let the quilting begin! This is one of my favorite sections - love these fabrics!

For the backing, I used a Phillip Jacobs shell print that I've had in my stash for years. Who knows, this may go under the machine today...

I also spent a bit of time selecting yo-yo's for the remaining winding ways blocks - I had plenty to choose from. The yo-yo's ALL got stitched down last night.

And then I finished stitching together a Bee's Knees star point. A lovely day!

Friday I spotted two police cars in our neighborhood as I left for the grocery store. Turns out some numbskull (an infrastructure construction worker) decided to shoot at an 8 point deer just off the golf course. I hope they caught him! We love our deer and no hunting is allowing on the thousands of acres that make up our neighborhood. As far as we know, the deer survived. I'm not against deer hunting, but it needs to be done LEGALLY! And not in our neighborhood...

So I'm thinking I may begin quilting Bliss this afternoon. Then I can continue on into Monday and get a nice bit done. I have a plan in my mind for the design...let's give it a go!

Have a nice day!

The Bee's Knees!

Look what I received in my inbox this week! A picture of a reader's quilt! Cynthia made this - she says:

"Just have to brag a bit!  I've been quilting since February of 2015. I've always wanted to do a hexi quilt, so in mid-December 2015 I started my first one - the Grandmother's Flower Garden. This will go to my oldest daughter & her husband (it's queen sized)! I still need to back & quilt it & then get the binding on. I am in the process of making my youngest daughter her quilt, yes, a queen-size of hexagons! I am also designing single-size hexagon quilts for all my grandchildren - all 8 of them!"

WOW! Cynthia, you certainly deserve bragging rights! And to be so new to quilting! Fabulous work!

It was The Bee's Knees for me yesterday! I basted more of these star points and have them ready to hand stitch together (maybe today?). Until recently, I've been taping them together on the front and ladder stitching from the back side.

But now I've found I like to tape on the back and stitch on the front. The ladder stitches disappear, so it really doesn't matter, but I like to see the finished product while I sew to make sure all is lining up the way I had planned.

Rodan and Fields

I'm a couple of weeks in on being an R&F consultant and I have no regrets! It's so nice to get a big discount on these products that I believe in. I made a big order a few days ago and the box came yesterday. So I got to use more products last night - what fun!

I treated myself to Lash Boost (among other products!) - proven to grow and thicken our lashes and brows. I'll keep you posted on my results.

You can put as much or as little time into this as you want. As you can tell, it certainly hasn't interrupted my sewing schedule! I love the fact that I don't have to keep inventory at my home, or do billing and bookkeeping and shipping.

There is a virtual business presentation on Facebook Sunday evening. If interested, you can watch in your jammies in your home with a drink of your choice. If you'd like me to include you, simply send me a friend request on Facebook (Julia Cheape Wood - my personal page) - I'll be glad to add you to view the presentation. And if you're busy Sunday night...no worries...the presentation will be available to view for 48 hours. 

OKAY! Now let's get some hexies done! I plan to stitch some of these this weekend - lots of them, in fact! I'm ready to finish this particular star and move on to another one!

Netflix update: We've finished Goliath, Bloodlines, Call the Midwife, The Crown. Great shows! We are amongst the few who haven't yet watched Downton Abby - so we've started it in the last couple of days. Yes, we love it!

And we're watching a new network show - The Hunted. It's a reality show about real people trying to hide for 28 days - it's really good and demonstrates that it's so hard to escape from the authorities. It seems Big Brother is everywhere. The contestants get a chunk of money if they succeed in being 'on the loose' for 28 days. And we are rooting for them to win, but they are dropping like flies.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! And I hope you get a chance to sew!  

And The Winners Are....

I have FINALLY decided on a name for my current curved hexagon quilt! Yay me! And the winning name is:

THE BEE'S KNEES

I'm so glad to call it by it's name now instead of 'my current curved hexagon quilt'! That was quite a mouthful! So the person who came up with the name is Elizabeth! She left a comment on the blog. HOWEVER, Elizabeth also happens to be Daughter 2. Haha! And I happen to know that she has no time for this right now because she is so busy as a resident Pharmacist at a hospital. She hardly has time for sleep! And so she's told me to give her ruler to someone else. (If she ever wants one, I think I can take care of it!) 

I bee-lieve I promised to give away TWO rulers. After a random draw, the winners are Cindy and Susan who both sent me ideas. So please, Cindy and Susan, email me with your snail mail address and I'll send you both a ruler!!!

If anyone else wants a ruler, too, simply email me - I'll bill you via Paypal ($24.00 with free shipping) and get a ruler to you quickly.

Okay guys, I have to tell you that I figured this quilt out yesterday. I've decided that the winding ways blocks do not play well with the baskets and nine patches. There was just too much going on and nothing stood out.

I've decided to put a sashing between the winding ways blocks. And then a border around the entire thing. I think I'll either make a pieced border or maybe even an appliquéd or hexie border. But first - I need to finish stitching down the yo-yo's. I did a bunch of them yesterday.

And those basket blocks? I'm not sure yet - but they might make a pretty table runner. No rush to figure that out though.

It's hexie day today - yay! I'm ready to get back to work on The Bee's Knees! Have a wonderful day!

En Provence Blocks DONE!

I made a few little parts yesterday and sewed together the last En Provence block. Yay! I finally took these quilt pieces off our guest bed.

I'd been making more nine patches as leaders and enders as I finished the above block. Before I knew it I had finished all of these, too! Yippee!

So now that the bed was cleared, it was time to fill it up again. I'm still trying to decided between two layouts. The one above has all the Winding Ways blocks in the center with the baskets and nine patches forming the four borders. There will need to be a strip of fabric in between.

And layout number two features alternating columns of Winding Ways blocks and baskets/nine patches, again with a strip of fabric in between.

I'd been leaning toward one of these before and now I think I'm leaning toward the other. I would love opinions!!! Please tell me what you think!

And now that I'm looking at the photos again, I'm thinking it all looks like mush. Oh dear. Of course, these Kaffe Fassett fabrics are mostly the same value - all mediums. So that makes me wonder if I should go a totally different route. Maybe sash the winding ways blocks? Then I might not even include the baskets and nine patches. Oh my, I've opened a can of worms!

Anyhow, today is the day for this quilt and I need to let the blocks rest and figure out what's next. So I think I'll spend the morning pin basting Bliss. Sounds like a plan!

Have a great day!

LOTS of Sewing!

Yesterday was one of those rare days where I actually got more done than I expected! I started on my dresdens.

I made two of them.

And then I moved on to Bliss. Here she is, layered with backing and batting, ready to be pin basted. Yes, my dining room table has been overtaken yet again. I'll be pinning a bit here and there - the goal is to be finished pinning by Monday so I can start the machine quilting. That shouldn't be a problem!

Then in the afternoon and evening I began stitching the next Farmer's Daughter block - good progress here, too.

I doubt I do as much today. Though I do hope to make the last needed parts for the last En Provence block and get it put together. Then I can move on to the sashing.  It's fun to see so much progress on so many projects. 

And now I think I'll sit and rest and enjoy a cup of tea. Want to join me? Have a great day!

Batting is Here...

The only thing I have to show for machine quilting progress yesterday is a bag of batting - I bought the batting. Unfortunately, that's all I did on it. But during the rest of the week I hope to start basting Bliss so it will be ready to go under the machine on Monday. Progress is progress, right?

I did finish this Farmer's Daughter block last night.

And since I went on and on about pressing it and twirling seams yesterday, I going to show you the back, too! I'm so enamored with how flat it is! I think this is block number 12.

Last night I cut out the pieces for the next block - this one has blues and browns.

Last week I went out to lunch at a local restaurant and ordered my favorite salad - Blueberry Feta Salad. Of course, my luck, they didn't get their blueberries or feta cheese in that day. I've been thinking about that salad every single day since. UPDATE: I forgot about the almonds! Add whole almonds, also!!!


So I decided there was no reason why I could make on at home. It's simply mixed greens, thinly sliced red onion, blueberries, feta cheese, and poppyseed dressing. I found some 'lite' poppyseed dressing at the grocery store. And I added a bit of chicken on top, too. YUM! Hubby said it's the best salad he's ever eaten. This was dinner a couple of nights ago.

Today is dresden day! Let's see how many I can make! Let's go SEW!

One More to Go! And Pressing Matters...

Yesterday I put together another En Provence block - only one more to go! Yippee! You may remember that because I'm making a smaller quilt with bigger pieces, I estimated how many parts and pieces to make. I need to make a few more parts before I finish the last block. Not a problem!

And then I made another set of nine patches - good progress.

One of my FAVORITE things about making nine patches is...twirling the intersections on the backside when pressing! It keeps the intersections flat - don't you hate bulky intersections???

Well, that brings me to my Farmer's Daughter blocks. It has taken me several blocks to FINALLY learn how to press these to eliminate bulky intersections. Do you see all those Y-seams?

I finally learned that I can twirl those, too! This makes my life so much better! Haha! The only bad thing about this is that now I need to go back and re-press all the blocks I've already made.

So today's message is: TWIRL THOSE INTERSECTIONS!!!

We had another round of storms in the afternoon. Another tornado warning! EEK! There was damage within our county - a house destroyed in our town of Opelika, But no damage in our neighborhood, thank goodness. But Georgia was hit so hard...prayers for them.

It's machine quilting day. I have the top (Bliss) ready. I have the backing ready. But I have no batting. I should have thought about this before today. So I'll most likely run out to buy batting. Then on with the show!

Have a blessed Monday.

It was a Farmer's Daughter Day

We had two rounds of severe weather yesterday - the first came through mid-morning with a tornado warning to boot. No damage around here, though there was damage in the next town over (Smiths Station).

Then the sun came out for the afternoon. Round 2 came through overnight. I was tired and slept through the entire thing. We had a nice storm (according to Hubby), but nothing dangerous. Weather people had been warning us all day that it was a PDS event - Possible Dangerous Situation. But we dodged a bullet.

I had a lovely day of hand stitching - my thumb is much better! I started another Farmer's Daughter block and managed to get this far - all the sections are sewn together. Yay me!

I forgot to mention this yesterday. We have a niche in our back hallway - up to now it's just been a rectangular sheet rocked opening. Friday a carpenter showed up and popped this into the opening. I love it! I now have shelves, Craftsman style trim and a little more class. Without shelves, there was not much I could put in here. Now I can add cookbooks, maybe a plant, and a few fun things. Much better. Someone else will be coming soon to paint it (the bead board in the back will also be painted) and then I'll get busy filling it.

I hope you have a lovely day.

Hexies and Bread!

Yesterday was extremely busy for me! I started out with a trip to the grocery store - a VERY early trip! 

Then the bread making began - SIX loaves rising! I worked in hexie stitching in between. I finished another little threesome - see it above.

Bread was baked - yum!!! Most of this is now in the freezer and I won't need to make bread again until March. 

And while we're on the subject of food - I bought these oranges at the store yesterday - PINK oranges! I've never seen pink oranges before. They are very good and so beautiful, don't you think?

I was looking forward to an evening of hand stitching... but while I was cooking dinner I burned my thumb. OUCH! See the blister? And that's my sewing thumb. And so hand stitching did not happen last night. But at least dinner was delicious! I made THIS - Honey Mustard Chicken Potato Casserole. It was really good and simple to make.

Wow - there's a lot of food in this post! Am I making you hungry?

I haven't decided what I'm sewing today. I'm a bit tired after yesterday. Hubby came home from Birmingham last night so I'm thinking there will be a lot of TV and relaxing today - so that means hand stitching if my thumb holds up.

We have weather warnings today - a line of bad weather coming through. It's a good day to hunker down!

Have a great day!

TGIF!

So yesterday I made two sets of nine patches.

And then I made another set.

And then I made another set.

I know some of these are odd color combinations. I purposely tried to put some odd pairings together to give this quilt some uniqueness. Some spots of interest. We'll see if it works! I want someone to say, "Wow, I would have never thought to put those fabrics beside each other - but they look good!"

I'm really glad I pulled this quilt out to work on. I'm almost done with the nine patches and will then be ready to put this top together. It's going to be a cool quilt, I think.

I did swim yesterday, but not long. At least I did a bit. Progress is progress even if it's slow, right?

Today MUST be bread making day! I've been putting it off all week. I really don't mind making it and it is worth the effort. So today it will happen. And hexies will happen!

Have a fun Friday!

Lots of Sewing! Yay!

Yesterday! I sewed for hours! Yay me! I stitched together the 3rd En Provence block.

And then I stitched together the 4th block! Only 2 more blocks to go!

And then I decided to move on to dresdens. I made one...

And then I made another!

My pictures are a bit dark today - it's very cloudy and foggy this morning. Storms are coming in tonight.

I had plans to work on the next Farmer's Daughter block last night, but I was tired and simply vegetated in front of the television. But it was a good day of sewing!

Did you notice I made two of each block? I love sets of two. When I come home from a trip to the grocery store, I find I have bought MANY items in twos. Two boxes of popcorn. Two cartons of eggs. Two frozen pizzas. Two packages of frozen broccoli. I think I have a bit of OCD. Why buy one? I might need another! Ha! I always have a spare!

Today I'll be working on my UFO - and that means nine patches! But first, I'm dragging myself to the pool. I've been a slug this week - need to swim TODAY!

Let's go jump in a pool!!! Have a fun day!